Jun 24, 2015

Very often, I receive emails from other artists that are interested in visiting, and ask me about places to go. As much as I love talking about Mexico City, after writing the same things over and over, I thought it would be much more practical to compile this list with some tips... Hopefully you find them useful!

After living all my life in Mexico City, I wouldn't dare to say that I've seen ALL of Mexico City. Just by looking at it from the plane you will see: it is really fucking huge. It is monstruous, crazy and disgusting, but it's also really beautiful. It's hard to get bored in it since there's always a lot of stuff going on! I drew plenty of inspiration from living there, and I hope you do too!

General tips
- No one calls Ciudad de Mexico "Mexico City". Just say "DF" (deh-eff-eh) and avoid sounding like a tourist ; )
- It rains A LOT! Come prepared for that, specially if you're visiting from June to October
- NEVER drink tap water! Always buy bottled water to avoid getting sick!
- Make sure to eat everything, it is all delicious and probably nothing like whatever your idea of "mexican food" is!
- You will probably get stomach sick regardless of what you do, so get acquainted with Simi farmacias. They offer cheap consults and medicines for our very common stomach infections.
- This should go without saying but... Make an effort to speak spanish! A lot of people don't speak english.
- This should also go without saying but, don't be flashy. Everyone can tell you're a tourist, and if you act stupid you could get robbed. Do not be scared, but be cautious!

Cool comic shops
There aren't really any "cool comic shops" in Mexico City. That being said, there are a few shops that sometimes carry local zines and art books that might be worth checking out...
- CBR Cineteca Nacional, Avenida México Coyoacán 389, Col. Xoco this one is not really a comic shop, but it is probably the best place to find zines outside of local fests. It is also inside the best movie theater in DF.
- Global Comics Vicente Suárez 114, Col. Condesa
- Fantástico Félix Cuevas 835, Col. Del Valle. This one is more like a classic comic book store. If you're coming from the US or Europe you probably won't find anything here that you wouldn't find at home.

Book stores
These don't carry zines and have very few comics, but you might be able to find some interesting stuff regardless
- Librería del Fondo de Cultura Económica Rosario Castellanos Tamaulipas 202, Col. Condesa
- El Péndulo Av. México 99, 1er Piso, Col. Condesa
- Gandhi Miguel Ángel de Quevedo 121, Col. Guadalupe Chimalistac
- There's also many bookstores that carry old used books (called "librerías de viejo"). You can find these all around the city, but the main area to find them is in la calle Donceles, Col. Centro

The local zine scene
- Check out the Fanzinoferias facebook group for all the latest news about local fests
- My favorite local art collective is Ediciones Joc Doc, they don't attend many fests, but you can always send them an email and arrange to meet them to buy their comics.

Museums
There's many museums you can visit, but these are my favorite... Note that all museums close on Mondays!
- Museo Nacional de Antropología Reforma, Col. Chapultepec
- MUAC Insurgentes Sur 3000, Centro Cultural Universitario, UNAM
- Museo del Chopo Dr. Enrique González Martínez 10, Col. Santa María la Ribera. Right in front of it is "El Sazón de Lolita" which offers cooking in the style of Yucatán! If you go to El Chopo, make sure to have lunch there.
- San Ildelfonso and Bellas Artes are also worth checking out, mostly for the architecture and crazy muralist paintings. There's also a cartooning museum, in which you can learn about the history of mexican cartooning (mostly focusing on political cartoons) el Museo de la Caricatura. These last three are all in el Centro.

Art stores
- Hiperlumen is a chain art store that has a very good selection of paper and art supplies. They also offer services like digital printing and paper cutting. The biggest two stores are Relox and la Del Valle
- Casa Serra is a really good store, specialized only in art supplies. They even have their own china ink brand, which is probably my favorite ink ever. They have two stores, one in Bolivar and another in el CNA
- For cheaper alternatives, there's a bunch of different paper, art and craft stores in la calle de República del Salvador in El Centro.

Art schools
If you're interested in visiting the local artschools, these are the most important ones. I didn't attend art school so I can't really tell you much about any of these. They're all public, so you can just go, walk in and check them out!
- La Esmeralda CNA, Av. Río Churubusco No. 79, Col. Country Club. There's a Casa Serra here, and there's also a Videoteca, were you can watch movies for free.
- FAD (until recently known as ENAP) Av. Constitución no. 600, Col. Barrio de la Concha
- Academia de San Carlos La Academia 22, Col. Centro

Other cool things to do
These are unrelated to art/comics but regardless I am adding them to the list! Some of the places that I suggest here are considered "dangerous", but again, as long as you go in the daytime and don't look like a flashy tourist, you'll probably be fine. In any case, I'm marking the "dangerous" places with a * just so you know.
* Walk around la Colonia Algarín and la Colonia Obrera. These are the neighborhoods where you can find places to get ANYTHING done: screenprinting, offset printing, production for t-shirts, magnets, flyers, pins, etc. You can also buy all sorts of things wholesale there. Everything is cheap!
* Walk around the south part of the Zócalo, in el Centro. Here every street is specialized in selling something. You will find paper goods in Regina, textile goods in Mesones, electric stuff in República del Salvador... everything is cheap and most shops offer bulk prices. There's also many good places to eat in that area.
* El mercado de Sonora this is like a typical mexican market, but they also sell all sorts of things for white and black magic stuff. If you like those magic candles from the dollar shop, this is the source of it all...
- La UNAM y El espacio escultorico this is the public university. It has some really cool buildings and nature!
- El Desierto de los Leones is a beautiful forest and there's an old convent there. I love this place, but it is quite far out. Much easier to visit if you have a car.
- El parque ecológico de Xochimilco is like a swamp park. There are many birds and interesting insects. Xochimilco is also a very nice area in general to explore, and the best spot to try pulque in the city.
* El mercado de Pino Suarez (also known as "las pacas") is the best spot to get cheap clothes. Just as you go out of the subway, there's like a "nicer" part of the market with new clothes, and once you cross the bridge there's the piles of used clothes. You can get a lot of good stuff for really cheap, but you have to dig. Very fun to do with a bunch of friends and a michelada in your hand...
* Tianguis de Santa Marta Acatitla this is like a junk and flea market. Lots of trash, but also lots of fun stuff. It's only on wednesdays!

Other interesting places to go, outside of Mexico City
You can get to these other towns from DF by taking a bus, which I would suggest as the safest traveling method!
- Teotihuacán (2 hrs. away from DF, take bus from la Central del Norte)
- Tepoztlán (2 hrs. away from DF, take bus from la Central del Sur/ Taxqueña)
- Oaxaca (8 hrs. away from DF, take bus from la Central del Sur/ Taxqueña)
- Guanajuato (6 hrs. away from DF, take bus from Central del Norte)
if you go to Guanajuato, check out Antigua Bar
- Morelia (6 hrs. away from DF, take bus from Observatorio)
if you go to Morelia, check out Fuck Zinez

I hope these tips are useful to you, and that you enjoy your visit to Mexico! Feel free to share my suggestions with your friends! Also, if you'd like to contribute something in exchange for these tips, I would greatly appreciate it! You can get my comics, stickers or prints from my webshop.